12 Speaking Competencies for Becoming a Masterful Speaker

 As you may or may not know, Mitch Meyerson and I wrote a book called World Class Speaking and we later created a course where we certify World Class Speaking Coaches.

At the heart of the program are these 12 World Class Speaking Competencies that we (Certified Coaches) help our clients master. As a speaker, if you master these competencies, you will find yourself being asked to speak more and more, which brings countless rewards.  

Invaluable Activity

This 4-step activity can be the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to improving your speeches and making you a more masterful speaker.

1. Rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 on the competencies below. A 10 means you are already great at it and a 1 means you feel you are currently ineffective with that particular competency.

2. Contact at least one other presenter and discuss your ratings.

3. Pick 2 competencies you commit to improving immediately. Because public declaration is a very strong motivator, feel free to post those 2 competencies in the comments section of this blog post.

4. Revisit your competencies every 30 days and rate yourself again. Feel free to post your progress.

 You master what you measure

 

 Look at these competencies as muscles. The more you strengthen each of them, the stronger you become overall as a speaker. This takes commitment and that’s why many people won’t do it. Therefore, this is YOUR opportunity to get a significant edge as a speaker.

The 12 World Class Speaking Competencies

 1. Storytelling – Being able to tell a story and make a point is at the heart of public speaking. World Class Speakers become World Class storytellers by mastering the elements of storytelling and including them in every speech.    

2. Selling – Every presentation is selling something whether it is an idea, product, service, or simply selling your audience on the benefit of listening to your message. World Class Speakers embrace this and integrate selling tools into every message.

3. Process-Driven – Instead of building themselves up, World Class Speakers build up the processes (or formulas or systems) that will improve the condition of their audience members.

4. Next Steps – World Class Speakers have a definite next step they want their audiences to take immediately following their presentation. They build their entire speech around getting their audiences to take that specific next step.

5. Anchor-Driven – World Class Speakers realize that “what’s loose is lost” and the best way to tighten their presentations is by using various anchors (i.e. stories, analogies, acronyms, activities, videos, etc.) to make their points memorable.  

6. Begin with a Bang – World Class Speakers understand the importance of the first 30 seconds of any presentation and they constantly open with a bang.

7. Succinct – World Class Speakers realize that squeezing their information in squeezes their audience out. As a result, they never try to fit in too much information into one speech.  

8. You-focused – World Class Speakers know that it is never about what they give but always about what the audience gets. Therefore, instead of saying, “I would like to share with you…” they say, “You’re about to receive…” The focus is always on “you” (the audience).

9. Dynamic – World Class Speakers use dynamic delivery skills that keep audiences engaged, energized, and wanting more.

10. Involvement – World Class Speakers constantly get and keep their audiences involved from the beginning to the end of their presentations. They realize that people buy into what they help create and making their audience part of the process helps to sell their message.  

11. Staging – World Class Speakers not only use the physical stage to clarify their message but they also use “Virtual Staging” to create the healthiest learning environments online and offline.

12. Research/Assessment-Driven – World Class Speakers meet their audiences where they (the audience members) are by doing pre-speech research and by assessing the energy of the audience throughout the speech. This is how they get and stay connected.

Final Note:

When you work on these competencies, these competencies will work on you.

If you are interested in not only mastering these competencies but also helping others master them as a Certified World Class Speaking Coach, visit http://www.certifiedspeakingcoach.com/ and simply show your interest. We run the program once per year and the next class begins on June 13^th 2011. It’s limited to 20 attendees.

If you’re interested in finding a coach that can help you master these competencies, here is a great place to start http://www.worldclassspeakingcoach.com/